1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner for purifying an indoor air and properly controlling the temperature and humidity of the indoor air to be maintained at a desired level, thereby providing more pleasant life environment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner, which is installed to an indoor ceiling of a building without a separate area for installing the air conditioner, to thereby enable even a small indoor space to be efficiently utilized, and which enables the air to smoothly flow in the air conditioner and to be more smoothly diffused in the indoor space when the air is exhausted from the air conditioner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hereinafter, firstly given will be a description of an entire construction of a conventional ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner, which will be followed by a description of a conventional turbo fan structure employed in the conventional ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner.
FIG. 1 is a bottom view of a conventional ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner has a suction port 11, through which indoor air is introduced, and exhaust ports 12 formed around the suction port 11. In the conventional air conditioner, the indoor air or the external air introduced through the suction port 11 is cooled to have desired temperature and humidity by means of a heat exchanger employed in the air conditioner, and then the cooled air is exhausted through the exhaust ports 12, so as to maintain the indoor air at a more pleasant state.
Hereinafter, the construction and the operation of the conventional ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner will be described in detail, with reference to the internal construction of the conventional ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner. FIGS. 2 and 3 are transverse and longitudinal sections of the conventional ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, in the ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner, the external air is introduced through the suction port 11, which is disposed at a lower portion of the air conditioner, and then the air passes through a bell mouth 16 having a specific shape for decreasing a reduction of pressure, thereby preventing the decrease of efficiency due to the reduction of pressure. Further, the air conditioner includes a driving motor 13 for generating a rotation force and a turbo fan 17 coupled to a rotation shaft of the driving motor 13, so that the indoor air is introduced into the air conditioner by the rotation of the turbo fan 17.
Moreover, the indoor air, which has passed through the suction port 11, the bell mouth 16 and the turbo fan 17 in order, absorbs or discharges heat at a heat exchanger 14, according to the operation state of the ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner.
Then, the indoor air, which has passed through the heat exchanger 14 to have desired temperature and humidity, is discharged through the exhaust ports 12 into an indoor space to be air-conditioned. In this case, the indoor air is guided to the exhaust ports 12 by a channel defined according to size and shape of a cabinet 15.
Hereinafter, an air-flow in the ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner as mentioned above will be described in detail, with reference to FIG. 4, which is a sectional view for showing the air-flow.
Referring to FIG. 4, the indoor air is introduced through the suction port 11 by a suction force generated by the driving motor 13 and the turbo fan 17, and the air sucked by the turbo fan 17 is adjusted to have a temperature and a humidity preset by a user while passing through the heat exchanger 14. Thereafter, the air is guided through a fluid channel defined according to the construction of the cabinet 15 and then exhausted through the exhaust port 12. This flow of the air has been well indicated by the arrows in FIG. 4.
Meanwhile, in the conventional ceiling-embeded air conditioner as described above, the air having passed the heat exchanger 14 comes into collision with the cabinet 15, which is the first barrier, so that the flow of the air is disturbed by the cabinet 15. In a more detailed description, the cabinet 15 disturbs a normal flow of the air, so as to generate a secondary flow of the air and increase noise due to the secondary air-flow. Further, the secondary air-flow as described above functions to deteriorate the efficiency of the air conditioner.
In FIG. 4, numeral 21 designates the area 21, in which the secondary air-flow as described above happens.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the related art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner having an improved fluid channel, in which the air can smoothly flow without the secondary air-flow, so that a generation of noise can be reduced and the efficiency of the air conditioner is improved.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ceiling-embeded cassette type air conditioner comprising: a driving fan and a heat exchanger for controlling an air to have desired temperature and humidity while passing the driving fan and the heat exchanger; a cabinet, the cabinet and the heat exchanger defining a fluid channel guided to exhaust ports between the cabinet and the heat exchanger; and a deflector extending straight and inclined to the heat exchanger, so as to enable the air to smoothly flow toward the exhaust ports without a secondary air-flow.
By the fluid channel of the present invention, the quantity of blown-air is increased with the same motor while the noise is reduced with the same quantity of blown-air. Consequently, this advantage eventually improves the performance and the efficiency of the air conditioner.